Chuck Versus The Plan
by scomiles
Summary: A two-part story on how Chuck gets Sarah and wins his freedom.
1. Chapter 1

This is a two-part story based on the Chuck TV show.

CHUCK VS THE PLAN

Chuck awoke Tuesday morning feeling hopeful about his plight for the first time in…maybe since he gotten blindsided with the Intersect in his head. Yeah, it might just work. One thing for sure, he had to hand it to Awesome. The guy could sling some verbal crap. All the Tony Robbins self-actualization mumbo-jumbo sounded pretty impressive after he had a few brewskis at one in the morning. Throw in Awesome's conviction and Chuck had become a convert. Well, not really, but he had to do something. Look, Awesome got the chicks, I mean, he gotten Elle didn't he? and he knew his sister was quite a catch. If it worked for Awesome, then it might just work for Chuck. He was sick and tired of being a pawn in other people's games. Enough. Time to make some moves.

He thought of Sarah. Always Sarah. Not five minutes went by in a day without his mind drifting to her. What a total knockout. She was everything Chuck could possibly dream of in a woman and more. She was gorgeous beyond words. She was smart, loyal, cool, a great listener, supportive, athletic, great at her job. Oh, and deadly. It all started and ended with her. This whole plan was just a way for them to be together. Yes, he did love her. He was sure of it. He wasn't sure where he stood with her. One day he thought she was crazy about him and then she would do something cold-blooded and rob his confidence. The next day she was all business and Chuck thought that all he was to her was just a job. Then she would stare at him a few seconds longer than needed or she would go out of her way to give him a cover kiss that spoke volumes or she would call him just before going to bed and make up some mission-related excuse when it was plain that she just wanted to hear his voice. During those moments he was positive he felt something deep. She had to be into him. She had to be. And so it had gone back and forth for months and months this way. Swinging between hope and despair, intense emotional intimacy and awkward indifference. And always the job excuse; of the need to protect him and she couldn't protect him if she got involved, blah, blah, blah. But no more. Awesome's talk had hit a nerve. It was time to crap or get off the pot. No more Mr. Nice Guy. OK, just a little of bit of Mr. Nice Guy with a dash of bold and aggressive thrown in for measure. Or maybe it was mostly dashing and bold with just a little bit of Mr. Nice Guy. Whatever the recipe, things were never going to be the same after today.

He walked into the Orange Orange while Sarah was all alone getting the store ready to open. Perfect.

"Morning Chuck." She said with a smile. "What are you doing here so early? Don't tell me you got a craving for one of my special banana fruit smoothies?" She was playing cute today. She was using her cute voice. He knew it well.

Chuck paused for confidence. He swallowed hard. Twice. OK. Here it goes. Phase 1 here it goes. "Sarah'" Chuck swallowed again. Damn, he was losing his nerve.

"What is it Chuck? Is everything alright?"

"Fine. Fine" replied Chuck. "No, it isn't fine." Chuck took several steps closer to be right in front of Sarah. He then looked around at the hidden monitors, grabbed her hand and led her back into the kitchen to a blind spot where the cameras couldn't see them.

"Here goes. I love you Sarah." The words came out of Chuck in rapid-fire delivery. The next time he said it slower, pausing on each word. "I love you Sarah."

Sarah was stunned. It took a second for her to recover and by that time Chuck was kissing her. "I can't. I have to protect you…" Chuck kissed her again. "I love you Sarah." After a few seconds of more kissing, Sarah snapped back into her Agent Sarah mode and tried to push Chuck off. "We can't. Beckman will reassign me." It didn't work. Chuck kissed her more strongly and hungrily this time and he could feel her resistance wavering. Their foreheads touched and in between gasps of air Chuck said, "Sarah, let me handle Beckman. Tell me that you don't love me and I'll stop." "Say it Sarah. Say you don't love me." It was no use. Sarah's resistance caved. She just couldn't deny herself anymore. She had spent a lifetime erecting walls to protect her from her true feelings and now when she needed her sanctuary most, it was gone. She had nowhere to hide from herself anymore. All those buried feelings of longing, love, and lust came erupting out of her. "I love you Chuck. I love you so much!" The words streamed out her as tears welled up in her eyes. "I love you!"

"That's all I needed to hear." Said Chuck. The entire well of suppressed feelings came poring out of both of them as they tore off each other's clothes and made mad, passionate love right there in the kitchen.

Sure, the Orange Orange sink wasn't on anyone's top 10 list of romantic spots, but when the government has spy satellites tracking your every move, you can't exactly walk in, reserve the honeymoon suite at the Four Seasons, put the 'Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and go to town.

_Next up - Phase 2._


	2. Chapter 2

_Phase 2_

It would get deadly serious from here on out. He would be playing someone else's game with only a cursory understanding of the rules. Crap, he only guessed at the rules. Who was he kidding? He had no idea what he was doing. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Phase 1 worked like a charm. It had actually worked! Twice!

He nearly declared victory and flushed the rest of the plan. Sneaking around with Sarah looking for places to have quickies would be fantastic for a while, but he didn't want just quickies with Sarah. He wanted longies with Sarah. He wanted the rest-of-his-lifies with Sarah.

Chuck hit the video connection to the General. "Mr. Barkowski?" said Beckman with a puzzled look on her face. "Is everything alright? We don't have a briefing scheduled. Where are Agents Casey and Walker?"

"No emergencies General." said Chuck. "Casey and Walker are fine. I think it was time you and I had a little talk."

"This is highly irregular Mr. Barkowski. Make it quick. What is on your mind?" Beckman said regaining her aura of superiority after the initial surprise.

"You see General. I have to live with the Intersect in my head 24/7. I have accepted it. I have helped you catch some seriously bad people and saved a lot of lives. I am very proud of what I have done for my country. While I know how valuable I am to you, I also know I am a national security risk if I fall into enemy hands. I know that you are never going to let me go free because I am a walking national security risk. I want my life back. That is why I have taken out a little insurance to keep me out of permanent lock-up or in case you decided to send someone to kill me."

Where are you going with this Mr. Barkowski? I am already late for an urgent meeting." interrupted the General.

"Well you just have to be a little later general. You see I have flashed upon your file and I saw some not so nice things. Shame on you general. And here I thought you were a nice lady. You wouldn't want this information to be released to the Congressional committees that fund you or say, the Las Angeles Times, if anything were to happen to me."

"Are you trying to blackmail me Mr. Barkowski? Well, well, I didn't think you had it in you. I really underestimated you. Blackmail is a very dangerous game Chuck. Are you sure you are ready to play the game?"

"Oh it is serious alright. I'm willing to play." said Chuck. "You see I wrote down all the juicy tidbits from my flash on you in a computer file that is connection to a special retina recognition program I developed. If I don't check in every 72 hours the program automatically sends the file to the names on my little mailing list. I have written the code so that if the program senses any distress in my eyes, say from, I don't know, torture, the program trips and the files get sent. I'm sure you can get to some of the newspapers in time, but not all and I'm sure Congress wouldn't be too enthralled with trusting you with running the show any more."

"What do you want Chuck?"

"I want my freedom General. And I want you to set Agent Walker free. She can have any assignment she wants, anywhere she wants. She can get out of field work if she wants. She can get out of the CIA if she wants. The same goes for Casey." Chuck laid it all out. "And I'm offering to keeping working for you. Believe it or not, I like helping catch the bad guys. I think a better use of the Intersect is for me to work remotely with all of your teams instead of just one. I can flash just as well looking at a video feed as I can in person. There is no reason for me to risk my life out in the field."

"Interesting approach Chuck. You might be onto something. But back to the blackmail for a second. This is about Agent Walker isn't it? She really has done a number on you hasn't she?"

"We are in love"

"Spies and love don't mix Chuck. Do you really think she will toss her career aside for you? I left Agent Walker as your handler because I knew the effect she had on you. I saw how you followed her around like a puppy dog. I figured if you fell for her you would be better motivated to work for us. Seems it worked a little too well." said Beckman. "Very well Chuck. We'll do it your way. For now. Have Agents Walker and Casey call me in an hour."

_Later that afternoon._

Chuck helped himself to a frozen yogurt while he waited for Casey and Sarah to finish up with Beckman. Man, the CIA did make some delicious yogurt. This stuff was tremendous!

"Seems as we have a major change in plans Chuck." said Casey as he came through the Castle door. "Beckman has broken up the team and is lending you out any team that needs you. Beckman thinks it is better use of your special talents to be on call for the entire NSA and CIA." Casey paused for a second. "Somehow I think this doesn't come as shock you. You finally grew a pair Barkowski." Casey gave a glance over to Sarah and then back to Chuck and said, "Better make you move on your lady friend before he takes off after Bryce or Cole." Casey stared at Chuck for a few seconds and knew. "Well done Barkowski. Took you long enough. Good thing the human race didn't depend on you two procreating or else we would have died out by now. Seriously Chuck. Two years? " Casey said his good byes and walked to the BuyMore. Odd as it sounds, Casey really wanted to sell just one of those monster refrigerators before he took off on his next assignment.

"Beckman said she is breaking up the team and I can have any job I wanted. I can even leave the CIA if I want. You did it Chuck. " said Sarah.

"I just couldn't take it any more Sarah. Us being in love and not being able to experience it; having to pretend we weren't just to keep Beckman happy. I had to do something. Stay with me Sarah. Leave field work and move in with me. For real this time. No more covers. No more fake relationships. I love you Sarah." Chuck said. "But as much as I want you to stay, it has to be your choice. You are free, maybe for the first time in your life. I think you should take some time and decide what you really want."

"Chuck you talk too much. I never get a chance to get a word in. If we are going to have a future together you are going to need to learn to let a woman talk." Sarah was switching into full-on flirtation mode now. "If I stop being a field agent and quit serving yogurt I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands and I'm going to have to teach you everything I know about being a spy."

"Starting with rule number one – never fall in love?" said Chuck.

"We can start with that, sure." said Sarah. "We need to test ourselves by locking ourselves in my apartment for a few days and remind ourselves over and over that what we are experiencing is only the mind's reaction to sexual pleasure; that our emotional connection is only temporary instead of deep, abiding love."

"Do your worst Agent Walker." said Chuck. "Your apartment sound great, but I kind of got use to the sink over there. I'm really going to miss this place."

_Two years later_

Chuck never got tired of watching Sarah. He and Sarah had been nearly inseparable since he challenged Beckman and he had gotten used to Sarah's beauty. Not that he didn't find her drop dead gorgeous, it's just that he didn't notice so much anymore. Most of the time when he saw her he saw a woman he loved, laughed with, and just enjoyed being around. It's like he saw straight through to the person inside. Every once in a while though, he would see her like it was the first time he ever laid eyes on her and be in awe all over again. Watching her nurse their son with her blond hair aglow from the sunlight breaking through the curtains was such a moment. She looked so content and radiated pure joy. She really was the catch of a lifetime.

"Daydreaming about me again?" Sarah said, shocking him back to reality. "You have that goofy love-struck high schooler look in your eyes again. I'm a wife and a spy so I have your looks down pat. You can't hide anything from me."

"Wanna bet?" thought Chuck. One day he would tell her. One day. Maybe. Sure, they were madly and passionately in love. They had a six-month old baby and were eager to have more. But to tell the truth he liked having some control over Sarah and keeping this secret from her. After all, she had jerked him around more times than he could remember and kept him in the dark about many, many things.

You see, it was all a scam. All of it. There was no special eye-scan software linked to a release a file. He had bluffed on it all. If his mind-numbing and degrading years at the BuyMore had taught him anything, it was that people didn't know squat about technology. OK, some did. The great majority didn't and they would believe anything you told them. You pull some excuse out of your ass about why a computer connection isn't operating fast enough, throw in some nonsensical buzz words out of PC World magazine, sell it with conviction and 99 percent of people will believe you. Throw in the "I graduated near the top of my class at Stanford in Computer Engineering' line and you can sell anything.

He had bet his life on it. He figured the general knew enough about technology to be scary and that her belief and reliance on technology would blind her BS detector and make her at least entertain the thought that Chuck's pie-in-the-sky software could work. Beckman knew Chuck had worked some real wonders on a few missions and he was not someone to be underestimated. She probably thought it was far fetched, but was she going to risk her career and fall into disgrace over Charles Barkowski? No she wasn't.

He was also right in guessing that someone who had risen to the top of the country's intelligence community had to have some skeletons in the closet. The trick was to make her believe that he knew something juicy. Whether he actually did or not was irrelevant. He was the Intersect for crying out loud. Beckman had no idea the breadth of the information in there. Was she going to gamble with her life's work that her dirty laundry wasn't in there? No. Beckman simply took stock of her risk and what she had to lose and thought it easier to just give Chuck what he wanted. Of course it pissed her way off for a puke like Chuck to get the better of her. She'd have to deal with it.

Besides, he was generating even better results working with multiple teams rather than just with Sarah and Casey. The final piece of his safety net was leaking stories to Congressional staffers on the Senate and House oversight committees on intelligence about what a great job Beckman was doing, all the while discreetly making sure Beckman knew the stories came from Chuck. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Isn't that the way the world works?

"I always found that faraway stare of yours really sexy" said Sarah as she put their son down for a nap. "I find most of the things you do incredibly sexy. I love you Chuck. Now why don't you stop fantasizing about me and take me to bed."

Chuck carried her into the bedroom and they spent the rest of the morning making love and reminding themselves that spies never fall in love.

THE END


End file.
